Tonal Architecture of the Ashlanders or How to beat the Guar-skin drum.

Greetings, dear reader! I am Saenlen, a well-travelled bosmer who has seen many weird and wonderful things over his lifetime and today I present you with my account of the Ashlander tribe of South Western Morrowind which goes by the name of Belkullassina and whose most curious people I had the pleasure of staying with. These people praise the '3 Good Daedra' through rhythmic dancing and chanting (throat-singing I think it may have been called) and I have even seen their wise-woman levitate objects using it.

One day, as the Belkullassina were moving their camp across the river, they encountered a landslide which blocked their path. Without hesitation, the gulakhan fetched his guar-skin drum and began to play a melody to accompany the wise-woman's song. As the wise-woman sang (in some archaic pre-House Dunmer tongue I would bet), she changed her voice so that she produced a deep bass tone and a high pitched whistle simultaneously. When the gulakhan upped the tempo, the wise-woman sang even quicker and her roars began to shake the rubble and when she whistled the boulders cracked into mere pebbles which turned into dust swirling in the air that then disappeared. When questioned, the wise-woman told me that the Way of Drum and Song had been brought by the Prophet Veloth during the Exodus from Summerset. Moreover, he had once roared a cleft in stone so deep that it became a pass through which the Chimer made their way through the Velothi Mountains into Morrowind.

The songs glorify the Ashlanders' stronger, better ancestors, telling of the power of Boethiah, the stern rule of Azura, and the deep machinations of Mephala. I asked the wise-woman if this power was a variation on the magicks wielded by Skyrim's Greybeards, and she almost turned my bones to ash! The answer was an emphatic no. She explained that the two disciplines were nothing alike, for the Greybeards revered the weak spirit, Kyne, whilst the music of the Velothi came from the power of the 3 Good Daedra, now forgotten by the 'civilised' House Dunmer who become more like the Cyrodiils every day.

In fact, it is known amongst the Ashlanders that such throat-magic is forbidden by the Tribunal demons, with such use being punishable by death in Almalexia and requiring imprisonment and re-education in the Ministry of Truth if caught in the city of Vivec. This is because the proud House Dunmer do not revere the Old Ways and forsake the honour of their ancestors to become bedfellows with snooty Altmer and rapacious, land-grabbing Cyrodiils.

On one occasion, the camp encountered an exiled witch (mabrigash is the term) who had fled from the Belkullassina tribe when her dark experiments had been discovered. The mabrigash had been found to be singing songs of blight, famine, death, and drought, attempting to poison the land and take vengeance on the Belkullassina. The worst of her crimes, I am told, was the profaning of the honoured ancestors with her unholy necromancy, a transgression which came with the penalty of death. Not being able to tolerate such injustice, our wise-woman began a roaring-match against her predecessor, their respective gulakhans setting the tempo with their drums. Peals of thunder resounded in step with our wise-woman's songs and great fire erupted with the mabrigash's every scream.

At once, the wise-woman pressed her advantage, calling the mabrigash's ancestors from the Otherworld and these offended spirits used their power to trap their disgraced descendant. The spirits, at the direction of the wise-woman songs, attacked the rogue gulakhan also, and both master and servant were dragged into the Otherworld, leaving no trace of the two dunmer, whatsoever.

Unfortunately, the wise-woman had grown fatigued from the duel and collapsed after the contest had been won. Her gulakhan rushed to her aid and began to play his drum at a speed I had never seen before, calling her spirit back into her body, pulling her AE out of the Otherworld. After confirming that she was alright, I set off the next day for Valenwood, feeling sad to leave my adopted Ashlander family behind.

Epilogue: I hope this account has given you all a more comprehensive look at the hidden gem that is Ashlander culture and that this will convince some of you of the need to petition the Great Houses to reinstate this ancient Velothi art to its rightful place.

-Saenlen 3E 401